Moving-picture machine.



H. S. MILLS.

MOVING PICTURE MAUHINE.

APPLIOATIONFILBD 0013. 190s.

91 8,888. Patented Apr. 20, 1909.

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Patented Apr. 20, 1909.

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HEHEER TS. M/LLS,

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I'I. S. MILLS.

MOVING PICTURE MACHINE. l APPLIoATloN FILED ooms. 1908.

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MOVING PICTURE MACHINE. APPLIGATION`P1LED oGT.3, 1908.

Patented Apr. 20, 1909.

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rthe other observer or observers, but without l -the view-obstructing members and the mechsuch parts occupy when a view-obstructing UNITED sTATEs PATENT orrrren HERBERT S. MILLS, 0F CEICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MovrNe-PICTUBE MACHINE.

No. erases.

To all whom it may concern.: j

Be it known that I, HERBERT S. MILLS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Im provement in Moving-Picture Machines, of which the following is a specification.

' My invention relates to improvements in the exhibiting variety of moving-picture machines in which the travelin picture-filmv works in a easing equipped with means for projecting the succession of pictures upon a screen into the line of vision of an observer through the casing who operates the machine by introducing int'oit a suitable coin or token for starting its operation.

The object of my invention is 4to adapt a machine of the class referred to for simultaneous use by a lurality of lobservers of its subject of exhibition from diierent .viewoints on the casin while affording 'to each a ull view of the ex ibition independently of affording to any observer a more extended view oi the same than is paid for by the consideration represented by the coin or token furnished for operating the machine.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in side elevation, partly sectional, of a movin g-picture exhibiting-machine equipped with my improvements, but showin only parts of the casing of the machine, an illustrating dia frammatically the .electric circuits and re ative positions of the condensing lenses and lamp to the projecting-lens barrel; F ig. 2 is a broken plan view, partly sectional and with the casing-cover removed, showing anism for operatingV them; Fig. 3 is en enlarged view, regarded in the direction of the arrow on line 3, Fig. 1, oi' the setting mechanism for timing the action of the view-obstructing members; Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged seotions taken, respectively, on lines 4 and 5, Fig. 2, showing parts in the positions that member is interposed in an observers line of vision; Fig. 6 is a view like that presented by Fig. 4 and Fig. 7 is a view like that presented by l."i'g. 5, but each showing parts in thepositions they occupy with a view-obstructing member in its inoperative or lowered position.

The top or cover 8 of the.casing 9 contains a plurality oi' observation-openmgs 10, of which three are shown in the present case,

'Specification of Letters Patent.'

. Application filed October 3,

4ing member 28 projecting finger Patented April 2o, 1909.

isos. serial No. 456,049.

be of any suitable construction, the one shown being that of United States Letters Patent No. 890,936, dated June 16, 1908, for a moving-picture machine having its drive-shaft geared to an electric motor 16 included in the circuit, hereinafter described, of an electric generator, indicated at 17 (Fig.

1), said circuit also including an incandescent electric lamp, indicatedv at 18, disposed in line with the condensing-lenses indicated at 19. For the pur oses of the present invention the icture-f m 20, which is actuated in the usua required manner to travel through the machine 14 with a rapid intermittent motion past the end of the vprojecting-lens barrel 21, is in an endless coil yrotated by the machine 14 to pay out the i'ilm from andl rewind it upon the coil; and I use for the purpose the iilm-winder which forms the subject of United States Letters Patent No. 887,431, dated May 12, 1908, involving the horizontal rotary coil-containing casing 22 surmounting the machine 14 and geared thereto tioy be driven by it for paying out the film from the centerof the coil to the machine and rewinding it about the periphery oi the coil.

As the aforesaid machine and film-Winder are not novel but are AI'ully shown and described in the alert-.said patents, their construetions and o )erations need not bede'- seribed 1n detail ierem.

A bar 24 1s fastened, at bosses 23 at inter'- vals on its upper side, to the under side of the cover 8Nby means of screws 25, this bar being bent to conform to the angular cross-section of the adjacent portion ofthe casing and its position being betweenthe openings 10 and the edge of the cover. Adjacent to each opening 10 a 'pair of parallel wings-26 and 27 depend for carrying a swin ing viewobstruct provider with a laterally- 28 near its free end. This member is shown in the form of a Hat rectangular sheet having upwardly extending stiffening fianges about its outervand latere edges' and extended at its rear end as a narrower tail-piece 29 through which it 'is `which are fastened-to it by set-screws 35,

thereby to unite the member 28 with the shaft, which is j ournaled in the wings 26, 27 to permit the member to swing between them into and out of the line of vision through the observation-opening 10. A spring-pressed pawl 36, of general bell-crank shape, is pivotally supported on the inner face of the win 26 and normally engages the catch 33 to hol the member 28 in its vision-obstructing position, its engaging-movement being limited by a shaft 45 encountered by its longer arm, with which is connected a tri ping-rod 38, actuated in the manner hereina ter described. The rock-shaft 34 carries on its end which projects beyond the wing 26 a head 39 having a finger 40 extending from one end and carrying near its opposite end a laterallyprojecting stud 41 to engage with the curved arm 42 of a spring-pressed pawl 43 of general bell-crank sha e, ivoted at its angle lto one corner of a s iel -shaped late 44 loosely surrounding a shaft 45 whic is journaled in the de ending wings and carries to turn with it rato ets 46 in osition to be engaged by the pawls 43. T iis pawl is normally held out of engagement withits ratchet against the tendency of its spring to engage it therewith by thepawl-arm 42 bearin against the stud 41 on the head 39 (Fig. 4 loose plate 44 is fulcrumed between its ends a A lever 47 normally held, by a s iral spring 48 connecting one of its ends wit an ear 49 on the plate, 'against a stud 5G thereon, the' opposite end of the lever carryin a laterallyprojecting stud 51 to en age the ead 39.

As Will be understoo a pair of the Wings 26, 27 is provided with the described mechanism upon them adjacent to each inspection-opening 10 (Fig. 2); and the shaft 45 is in sections connected by ordinary universal joints, as shown, to enable it to be driven from a single point for actuating each set of the mechanism between a pair of the wings for Working the view-obstructing member 28 of that set. l

For driving the shaft 45 it carries a Worm- Y Wheel 52 engaged by a worm 53 on a rotary shaft 54, which inclines downwardly into geared en agement, as hereinafter described,

-With the living-shaft 15 of the machine 14,

whereby the operation of the machine rotates theshaft 54 to slowly and continuously dr1ve*(during the-operation of the machine) the shaft 45 by the worm-gear connection between the two shafts.

On each,

- Figs. 6 and 7.

Bell-crank levers 55 are provided, one for each swinging member 28, fulcrumed at its angle on a plate 56 ofinsulating material upon the inner Wall of the casing, to extend one arm into the path of a finger 128, the other depending arm of the bell-crank having a buffer-head 57 projecting from it into the path of said finger, and'this arm extending into position to engage with a pair of griping electric-contact springs 58 projecting fiom the plate 56 near an adjustable stop 59 thereon for the bell-crank, thus forming the common knife-switch? The line of vision from each inspectionopening 10 to the screen 12 is normally o structed by ai member 28 held in the position illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 by engagement of the pawl 36 with the catch 33. Upon disengagement of the pawl 36, the member 28 drops by gravity and abuts its finger 128 against the buffer 57, the momentum turning the bell-crank to introduce its contact-end vbetween the contact-springs 58 and close the circuit, which is traced as follows: from the positive pole of the generator 17 by a wire w to a contact 58, where that wire joins, at (Fig. 2), a wire w1 which connects the three sets of springs -58 at binding-posts on the lower ends of the plates 56. On the upper ends of the plates 56 are binding-posts 158 connected by a wire w2 from which, at a wire 'w3 leads tothe terminal y on the motor 16, the other terminal z of which is connected by a wire w* with the .negative pole of the enerator.` The lamp 18 is contained in a 'ranch-circuit formed by a wire w5 connecting the two motor-terminals y and z. Thus the three bell-cranks 55, which are fulcrumed at the binding-posts 158, are included in multiple in the generator-circuit, so that with any or all of them in engagement with their respective contact-springs 58 the circuit is closed, and it is not opened until they are'all out out of such engagement.

The machine 14 being out of operation, a person desiring to use it starts the motor 16 and trips the pawl 36 to free the member 28 controlling the line of vision through the particular opening 10 selected for observation. Both of these results ensue from inserting a suitable coin or token into a coinchute 60, one of these chutes being provided adjacent to e`ach openingA 10 and leading to a coin-deposit box 61 in t 1e casing. In dropping through the chute the coin or token encounters a pivotal bent lever 62 in its path, Working in a slot in the chute and connected with the tripping-rod 38. The momentum of the coin turns the lever out of the path of the coin or token to enable it to pass, and the movement of the lever 62 draws upon the rod 38 to trip the pawl 36 and free the member 28, permitting the latter to drop out of its view-obstructing position to that shown in ln dropping, the finger 128 erases on said vmemberencounters the louder 57 and the momentum turns thebell-crank 55 to engage its contact-end with the springs 58 tion on the endless coil of traveling pictureilm until all of the contacts at 58 are opened.

4 The arrangement, however, is, for practical cause it to turn on its fulcrum and stretch the the contact-springs 58.

purposes, necessarily such .as to bring each member 28 bvaclinto its view-obstructing position when the observer has viewed the complete scene 4exhibited by the ilm, whether the observation commenced at the beginning `or at 4any later part of the exhibition; and

this is effected, by the worm-gear 52, 53 in driving the shaft-45, in the following manner: The -moment that a member 28 drops, resultant turning of its supporting-shaft 34 turns the head 39 to remove the stud 41 thereon out of engagement with the pawlarm 42, permitting the pawl 43,l under the force vof its spring-pressure, to engage the ratchet 46 continuously rotating in the direction of the arrow on each of Figs. 4 and 6. The pawl 43 being on the loose plate 44, the latter turns with the ratchet carrying with it the lever 47 until the free end ofthe latter Aengages the stud 51 thereon with the head 39, which holds the lever sufficiently to spring 48 (see Fig. 6); but the stud 51 is meantime slowly dragged along the edge of the head 39 (bearing against` a dead-center) until it reaches the end of thefeccentric finger 40, whereupon the recoil of the spring 48 suddenly turns the head back to the normal position in Fig. 4, freeing from it the lever 47 fand turning the shaft 34 to raise the member 28 into its view-obstructing position, wherein Iit is locked by engagement -of the pawl 36 with the catch 33. In the rise of the member 28.its finger 128 encounters the arm in its path of the bell-crank 55 Withsuflicient force to disengage -its other arm from In. the rise of the member 28 the stud 41 encounters the arm 4.2 and' disengages the pawl 43 from the ratchet 46. A

Inasmuch as picture-films for thel present class of exhibiting-machine vary in length, according to the scenes upon them, and it being a primary purpose of my invention to cause the time of permissible inspection by any observer to terminate when the exhibition of the scene on the film used in the machine is completed, I provide setting means for regulating the time of eecting completero'tation of 'the shaft 45 to correi spond with that of completing the feed of t e entire length -of :picture-.film and, -a'ccordingly, for permitting a member 28 to remain in its non-obstructin position. The means referred to are most cearly illustrated in Fig. 3. The inclined shaft 54 is journ aled toward its lower end in a bracket 63 on the frame of `the machine 14 and carries on its lower end a gear-wheel 64 provided on one face with radial teeth-forming ribs 65 at uniform intervals apart. Midway, both circumferentially and radially, between each pair of the teeth 65, is a shorter rib or tooth 66 bifurcated at its outer end to form two teeth V67, producing three eqfuahspaces between adjacent teeth 65 and adapted to be engaged by the driving-member, hereinafter described. The driving-member 68 is a gear-pinion provided with rounded teeth and carried by a rotary shaft V69 journaled, to extend at a right-angle to the shaft 54, in vthe frame of the machine 14 and in an armextension 163 of the bracket 63, to cause the teeth of the wheel 68 to engage those of the wheel 64 at a right-angle thereto. The shaft 69 is geared, as shown at 169 in Fig. 3, .to the Adrive-shaft 15 of the machine A14. The wheel 68, which is secured to its shaft by fa set-screw 170 working in its hub 70., is ad- -justable longitudinally of the shaft to engage it with the driven Wheel nearer to the center of the latter for its greater speed of rotation or farther from said center to reduce that speed. For the purpose of explanation it may be supposed that the adjustment will be used for iilms respectively of one, two and three hundred feet in length. For timing the endurance of the view-obstructing members 28 in their dropped condition for the 'longest film the wheel 68 would be set to engage the wheel 64 near its periphery and thus with all the teeth on the latter; for the next shorter film the setting of the driving-Wheel would be midway between the center 'and periphery of the wheel 64 and drive itat twice the-,speed by engagement only with its teeth 66 and 65; and for the shortest film the wheel 68 would be set, in the position illustrated, nearest the center -f the 4driven wheel, to turn it at three times the speed of the first-named setting by engagement only with its teeth 65. Of course, as will be understood, these relative speeds may be varied, for different relative lengths of picturefilms, b roperly constructed wheels 64, 68.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that when the o eration of the machine is once started it wil be continued each time an additional observer, during the operation, uses an unoccupied opening 10 and causes the respective member 28 to drop out of its ,view-obstructing position, but that each successive observer will have the scene on the film presented to him beginning at :an

intermediate partth'ereof, though the exhibition Will necessarily continue until the scene is carried to the point at which the observation began.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a moving-picture machine, the combination of a casing containing the pictureexhibiting mechanism, including a reflectionre'ceiving screen, and provided With'a plurality of observation-openings directed toward said screen, a view-obstructing member normally extending in the line of vision from each said opening, and means for removing said members, independently of each other, out of the respective lines of vision.

. 2. In a moving-picture machine, the combination of' a casing containing the pictureexhibiting mechanism, including a reflectionreceiving screen, and provided With a plu-F rality of observation-openings directed to- Ward said screen, a view-obstructing member normally extending in the line of vision from each opening, means for removing said members, independently of each other, out of the respective lines of vision, and timed means for returning said members, independently of each other, to their normal view-obstructing position. I

3. In a moving-picture machine, the-combinationof a casing containing the pictureexhibiting mechanism, including a reflectionreceiving screen, and provided with a plurality of observation-openings directed to- Ward said screen, means for obstructing lthe line of vision from each opening, comprising a rock-shaft carrying a view-obstructing member and a catch-device for normally holding said member in said line, a tripdevice for releasing said catch-device to per-'- mit said member to move out of said line,4

a rotary shaft having a Worm-gear drivingconnection With the drive of said mechanism, and coperating means for each of said members on said rotary shaft and rock-shaft operating to restore a member to its normal position at the end of a complete rotation of said rotary shaft after the release of said catchdevice. n

4. In a moving-picture machine, the combination of a casing containing the picture` exhibiting mechanism, including a refiectionreceiving screen, and provided With a plurality of observation-openings directed toward said screen, means for obstructing the line of vision from each opening, comprising a rock-shaft, a lview-obstructing member, a catch and a head on said shaft, a pawl normally engaging said catch to hold said member in its view-obstructing position, a tripdevice for releasing said pawl to permit said member to turn from said position, a `rotary i shaft having a Worm-gear driving-connection with the drive of said mechanism, and independently operating-means on said rotary shaft for each of said members for restoring it to its normal obstructing position, comprising a ratchet, a loose plate carrying a pawl to engage the ratchet, having an arm to engage said head, and a sprin -pressed lever on said plate to engage said lead, for the purpose set forth. f

5. In a moving-picture machine, the combination of a casing containing the ictureexhibiting mechanism, including areiectionreceiving screen, and provided with a pluralityv of observation-openings directed toward said screen, a pair of bearing-Wings near each opening, a rock-shaft journaled in each pair of said win s head, a vieW-oIistructing member on each shaft adapted to turn With it, a pawl normally engaging said catch to hold said member in its view-obstructing position, a tripdevice for releasing said pawl to permit said member to turn from said position, a rotary shaft formed of jointed sections each journaled in a ypair of said wings and having a Worm-gear driving-connection With the drive of said mechanism, and means on each shaftsection for restoring one of said members to its normal obstructing position, comprising a ratchet, a loose plate carrying a pawl to engage the ratchet, having an arm to engage said head,`and a spring-retracted lever on said plate to engage said head, for the purpose set forth.

6. In a moving-picture machine, the combination of a casing containing the ictureexhibiting'mechanism, including a rei ectionreceiving screen, and provided with a plurality of observation-openings directed toward said screen, view-obstructing members, one for each opening, normally extending in the line of vision therefrom, means for removing 4said members, independentlyof each other,

out of the respective lines of vision, means for returning said members, independently of each other, to their normal view-obstructing position, a rotary shaft operating said returning means and carrying a Worm-Wheel, a second rotary shaft carrying a Worm engaging said worm-Wheel, and a setting-device geared to the drive of said mechanism and engaging with said second rotary shaft for timing its rotation, for the purpose set forth.

7. In a moving-picture machine, the combination of a casing containing the pictureexhibiting mechanism, including a re ectionreceiving screen, and provided with a plurality of observation-openings directed toward said screen, view-obstructing members, one for each opening, normally extending in the line of vision therefrom, means for removing said members, independently of each other, 'out ofthe respective lines of vision, means for returning said members, independently of each other, to their normal view-obstructing position, a rotary shaft operating said returning means and carrying a Worm-Wheel, a

second rotary shaft carrying a Worm engaging the Worm-Wheel, and a setting-device comprising agear-Wheel on said second shaft having sets of teeth on its face, a rotary shaft and a driving-member for said gear-Wheel on said last-named shaft and adjustable longitudinally thereof to engage said gear-wheel at dierent points between its center and riphery, for the purpose set forth.

8. In a moving-picture machine, the combination of a casing containing" the ictureexhibiting mechanism, including a reffectionreceiving screen, and provided with a plurality of observation-openings.directed toward said screen, view-obstructing members, one foreach opening, normallyextending in the line of vision therefrom, means for removing said members, independently of each other, out of the respective lines of vision, means for returning said members, independently of center each other, to their normal v'ieW-obstructingl position, a rotary sectional shaft having its sections connected by universal joints and t operatingl said returning means, a Wormgeared to the drive-shaft of said mechanism,

wheel on said shaft, an inclined rotary shaft carrying on its upper end a worm engaging the Worm-wheel, and a setting-device comprising a gear-Wheel on the lower end of said inclined shaft having sets of teeth on its face, a rotary shaft geared to thedrive-shaft of said mechanism, and a driving-member for the gear-Wheel on said last-named shaft l1avin rounded teeth and adjustable longitudi na ly of its supporting shaft to engage the gear-Wheel at different points between its' land periphery, for the purpose set forth.

HERBERT S. MILLS. In presence of.n fr K. M. CQRNWALL, ,l R. A. SCHAEFER. 

